Drontek Dust Mite Controller

AlanD

Hi,

might have the wrong forum here, but our 4 month old has been getting red patches on his back, that are borderline eczema. I've read that the dust mite can cause this reaction in babies.

I heard an ad on the radio recently for the Drontek Dust Mite Controller. I'm wondering if anyone has bought one and if they feel it has done any good? it costs over 70 euro to buy, so I don't want to go out and get one just because I heard a good ad. It is supposed to disrupt the feeding cycle of them and so reduces the allergens they produce. Or something.

I wonder would the ultrasonic rodent repellers do the same job?

Any info, negative or otherwise would be helpful.

Nevyn

Check with your health nurse and look at other ways that you can reduce the dust or surfaces that dust clings to in the house and arround the baby.

r3nu4l

OP are you using an emollient cream on your baby? The overwhelming feeling of dermatologists used to be that eczema (atopic dermatitis) is purely an allergic disease however today the feeling is that allergy is a complication of a breakdown in the stratum corneum (top epidermal layer) and subsequent destruction of the skin barrier protection effect.

Check with the health nurse regarding what emollients are recommended by them but I would recommend an emollient containing an ingredient called dexpanthenol (pro-vitamin B5). Dexpanthenol (importantly) actively aids skin barrier (stratum corneum) repair. Specifically I would recommend Bepanthen which is available at Boots. It has been available for years in Europe but only recently in the UK and Ireland. It is primarily marketed for nappy rash and cracked nipples (breastfeeding mothers) but is execellent for overall skin care. It contains only 12 ingredients all of which are safe for use in babies (Bepanthen has been in use for over 50 years in Switzerland and Germany!). Try to apply it to your child's skin twice a day and if it doesn't clear up in a few days ask the nurse.

Just so you know, I work in Medical Communications and have recently organised and conducted an international expert panel focused on Atopic and Irritant diaper dermatitis. I have also used this cream myself to treat a dermatitis patch under my eye and it worked very well. I'm not advertising the product in any way, I'm replying as someone who thinks this could help. PM me if you want any more advice.

AlanD

yes we are using some sort of emollient cream. I can't remember the name of it unfortunately. It worked at first, but then the patches started coming back. Reducing dust mites is just another option we're going to try.

Interesting take you have on allergies. It makes sense I think.

PM me the name of that cream though and i'll check it out.

Back to the OP though, Drontek.....any experiences?

r3nu4l

It's okay Thaedydal has said I can name it so I edited my post above. The cream is "Bepanthen", made by Bayer healthcare and is available in Boots, usually in the baby skin care section with nappy rash creams. Again, see my post above.

Not all emollients are the same and the choice is more important than simply slaping on some cream, most have ingredients that are included without any scientific basis. Some are too occlusive, not allowing the skin to breathe or perform controls on trans-epidermal water loss which is vital.

No idea about your dust-mite controller, di you look for reviews on the web?

luckat

Some of my family are allergic to zinc, and so baby creams with zinc give our babies horrible rashes.

Maybe check with r3 whether the cream s/he recommends has zinc or not.

But meanwhile, I'd go to the doctor and ask to see a dermatologist, and ask the dermatologist to send scrapings for proper tests.

(I'm amazed when American friends tell me of their doctors automatically sending off throat swabs to find out what kind of flu they have - so sensible! My doc just peers in my throat and says "Oh, that's a bad one, lot of it going around" and lashes out the antibiotics.)

You'd feel a bit silly if you discover that your kid had scabies or chicken pox or psoriasis and you would have saved the kid if you'd acted faster...

r3nu4l

luckat wrote:

Some of my family are allergic to zinc, and so baby creams with zinc give our babies horrible rashes.

Maybe check with r3 whether the cream s/he recommends has zinc or not.

Firstly r3nu4l is a he

Secondly, Bepanthen does not contain zinc, it is completely hypoallogenic (non-allergic). The form of zinc found in some emollients is zinc oxide the particular zinc oxide cream in use in a certain London Hospital is also occlusive (does not allow regular trans-epidermal water loss) and may in fact damage babies skin.

OP are you using any "baby" washes? Do they contain sodium lauryl (or laureth) suphate (SLS)? If so stop immeditately. This is a detergent and while fine for use in adults (it helps remove dirt and grime) it is not so good for use in babies and can damage the skin barrier.

A well known range of "baby" products on the shelves today uses SLS although at a lower concentration than in regular body wash and bath foams.

AlanD

We both that cream and I have to say it's been brilliant. His rashes have started to clear up already.

To answer your query, we don't use any baby washes. We cut them out when his rashes started to appear. So we then started washing him with a Silcox (spelling?) base thing and now we're using Aqueous cream to wash him. All seems to be going ok now that the cream is helping his skin.

Another thing I forgot about was to wash out the Hepa filter of my vacuum cleaner. It's an anti-allergy filter that does work and I just realised over the weekend that I hadn't cleaned it in over a year. So we'll up the vacuuming frequency to cut the dust and see how it all goes.

robototitico

Did you buy the plug in Dust Mite Controller in the end?

I too am wondering if they really work? Also does anyone know where I can buy one? I saw them in Dunnes ages ago, but they no longer have them. Argos don't have them either.

AlanD

Hi,

We bought one alright. It's been plugged in 24/7 now for a few years. It's hard to tell if it actually works or not. Althugh i think the symptoms our son had disappeared shortly after we got it. The theory of it made sense for us, so we continue to use it.

Think we bought ours in the local pharmacy. But eBay could be a food source for you.